A plant had a different name in every country.

What an English botanist called one thing, a French botanist called another. A German herbalist used a third name. A Spanish physician used a fourth. The same plant, growing across a continent, carrying the same chemistry, producing the same effects — described in a dozen different languages with no shared reference.

Science could not build on itself under these conditions.

In 1753, a Swedish botanist named Carl Linnaeus published Species Plantarum, and the problem was solved.

The Problem Before Linnaeus

The names used for plants before Linnaeus were descriptive — long strings of Latin words that attempted to convey what the plant looked like.

Plantago foliis ovato-lanceolatis pubescentibus, spica cylindrica, scapo tereti.

That was a name. It described the plant in detail. It was also impossible to remember, impractical to use in conversation, and inconsistent between authors.

Every botanist...